State Route Numbering:
Kentucky to Mississippi



Kentucky
Methods:
Primary: Geographical; Secondary: ???


 


Generally, east-west roads have even numbers, and north-south roads have odd numbers. This is true in large part for one- and two-digit routes, but many three- and four-digit state highways violate this guideline, if by compass direction if not by signage. The lowest numbers can generally be found in the north and east, and the highest numbers in the south and west. The northernmost "major" state highway is KY 8; the southernmost is either KY 74, KY 94 or KY 96; the eastern most is KY 3 and the westernmost is KY 97.

Three- and four-digit routes do not seem to be dependent on one- or two-digit "parent" routes, as are U.S. and interstate highways. You might find some three-digit routes in close proximity to the "root" route -- i.e., KY 155 intersects KY 55; KY 715 runs concurrently with KY 15 for a couple of miles; and KY 111 and KY 211 aren't all that far away from KY 11 -- but for the most part, the numbering pattern doesn't apply to most three- and four-digit Kentucky routes. For instance, three-digit routes in H.B. Elkins' home county include KY 399, KY 498, KY 587 and KY 708. They are a long way from their "parent" routes.

Not all one- and two-digit routes are major highways. For instance, KY 114 between Salyersville and Prestonsburg carries a heavy volume of traffic and is a major through route, yet it has a three-digit number. On the other hand, KY 83 is such a minor route that it isn't even listed on the official Kentucky Highway Map. (In case you're interested, it's in Graves County, linking the communities of Tri City and Cuba.)

Sometimes the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will renumber highways. The most recent major example of this came in 1995, when the Alexandria to Ashland Highway (AA Highway) was changed from KY 546 and KY 694 to KY 9 and KY 10.

Kentucky does not allow duplication of highway numbers. For example, because US 60 runs through the state, there is no KY 60. An exception to this policy is US 79 and KY 79. The northern terminus of US 79 is at Russellville in Logan County. Although the actual road is not continuous, KY 79 runs from Russellville northward to Brandenburg in Meade County.


Maine
Methods:
Primary: ???; Secondary: Clustering


 


Maine isn't the most systematic when it comes to numbering highways. First of all, there's a loose clustering system in some parts of the state for the secondary roads. The 160s are concentrated in the northern part of the state, the 180s in the extreme southeast, the 170s in the Ellsworth area, the 110s to the northwest of Portland, the low 100s south of Portland, the 150s north of Bangor, the 120s in the Auburn and Lewiston areas, and the 130s in the Belfast and Rockland areas.

To every rule, as they say, there is an exception. Route 102 is on Mount Desert Island south of Ellsworth, Route 166 off the island but in the same general area. Likewise, route 188 is near Lincoln. There are also routes in the 200s, mostly on the south coast (except 222 in Bangor).

The highest numbered highway is 238 near Bath (no relation to the interstate highway near Oakland, CA.) There is one duplication of an interstate and a state route, but the two 195s are nearly at opposite ends of the state.

No plan has been deciphered for the one and two digit highways. Some span the state (9 from the NH border almost to Canada), but others barely go to the other end of town (like 98 in Old Orchard Beach.)

Maine also likes to multiplex routes, especially the main state roads with US routes (9 with 202 between Augusta and Bangor). A weird highway is route 100, which is almost entirely multiplexed with another route between Portland and Bangor.


Maryland
Methods:
Primary: Clustering; Secondary: ???


 


There is no specific pattern to Maryland's numbering. The routes do tend to come in groups in some places, though. The single digit numbers (or at least most of them) can be found in the Baltimore-Annapolis-Washington area (2, 4 & 5 radiate from DC). The only single digit not used is 9. Some of the routes proceed to southern MD. In western MD there are 4x, 5x and 6x highways, and 2xx highways can be found in southern MD.

US routes are not duplicated, BUT interstate numbers can be and every one probably is. The only place where this seems to be at all confusing is on I-70 which intersects with MD 68 and I-68 within 20 miles of each other.

Another interesting thing is that a couple of numbers just go away and come back. MD 144 is mostly what was Old US 40 (called the National Road or Pike) between Cumberland and Baltimore. It appears, disappears, and reappears at least 5 times. US 40 (called the Pulaski Hwy) also has another companion, MD 7, which does the same trick between Baltimore and the Delaware State Line. That number shows up at least four different places as well. One other number that is more than one road is MD 20. There is one near the Sparrows Point-outer Baltimore Harbor area, and one on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay. They are essentially along the same line but don't look for another Bay Crossing there ;)

In addition to signed state highways, MD has a number of unsigned state highways. Most of these are old alignments that are still usable, and some plain defy explanation. Willowbrook Road south of Exit 44 on I-68 is MD 638, but it's not posted. Much of MD 36's old alignment between Corriganville and Barrelville is maintained by the state, as are old sections south of Exit 34 on I-68.

Does Maryland have a numbered secondary or county highway system? Well, it appears that the agreement was "no", but then CC Slater came in with:

MD has been posting 9xx series numbers on some short roads. There's one (MD 955?) leading to a car park at Baltimore Washington International Airport. MD 911 leads from Rockville Pike (MD 355) east to the junction of MD 586-Viers Mill Road and MD 28 Baltimore Road just south of Rockville, MD. It goes under a railway.


Massachusetts
Method:
Clustering

There are, it appears, no "secret" routes in Massachusetts.

The north/south US routes are numbered in consecutively odd order heading west; i.e. US 1, US 3, US 5, and US 7.

The east/west US routes do not fit, though. It should be US 2, US 4, and US 6 in Massachusetts. There is a MA 2 and a MA 4 that were put in place of US 2 and US 4 (MassHighways is really consistent on not mixing US and MA routes; anything that conflicts gets an "A" at the end, i.e. 1A, 2A, 3A, etc.). There is, of course, MA 3, but that could be argued as an extension of US 3. As consolation prizes, Massachusetts got US 20 (not a bad deal, since it's 3000 miles long and actually goes coast to coast unlike US 2, which splits up in Rouses Point NY and starts up again in Michigan) and US 44 (at least it begins near Plymouth Rock!).

There is only one 3 digit US route: US 202.

East/West routes tend to run the longest. To wit,

Believe it or not, the longest route in MA is MA 28, which runs for 148 miles north to south!

The single state numbers are in Boston, the teens are in the central part of the state, the 20s are concentrated in the southern part, and the 30s are in the central and western part of the state.

There are a whole load of 100 series routes in Massachusetts, and they too tend to be clustered; e.g. 110, 111, and 113 are in northern Mass; 103, 104, 105, and 106 are in SE Mass, and the 150+ series routes (152, 183) are routes traversing from southern NE states like Connecticut and Rhode Island.


Minnesota
Method:
Legislative


 


Every foot (meter?) of Minnesota state-maintained highway is authorized by the Minnesota Legislature. The original act was passed in 1920, and was an amendment to the state Constitution. Constitutional Routes 1 to 70 are locked in, and cannot be changed without an amendment. The legislature can create new routes, and these are Legislatives Routes 71 to 396.

Each Constitutional/Legislative Route has its own number, but this may or may not be the number used on the signs out in the field. The numbers that are actually used on the signs are derived in any of the following ways:

Where you see routes grouped, these are routes that have the C/LR number, and that were authorized in sequence. Many of the short (2xx) routes are political plums won by legislators for their districts. Since legislative routes are authorized sequentially, this explains the adjacent numbers.

Some of the clusters that have have resulted include:

It appears that an effort was made to keep a distinction between one-, two-, and three-digit Constitutional/Legislative Rroutes in terms of length. All of the one-digit routes are major cross-state highways. However, the majority of them have been usurped by US routes, so now you are hard-pressed to find one-digit Minnesota routes. For example, MN 3 became US 61 and US 10, and MN 9 was destined to be US 16 (now MN 16 and I-90). Two-digit routes are long highways, too, but most of them are shorter than the one-digit routes. Three-digit routes are what you would expect them to be, namely, short links, loops, and spurs.

If you're interested, you can take a look at the actual Minnesota statutes authorizing these "constitutional routes."

It should be noted that every state maintained route in the state, whether it is Interstate, US, or state, has a C/LR number, and is referred to as such in legislation. If, by chance, the numbers on the signs out in the field are used in legislation, they're called "Trunk Highway xx".

The specific routing of the route is not in the legislation; all that's given are the two termini and the towns it goes through. So, that means that MN/DOT has a great deal of discretion deciding what it wants to do with its highways.


Mississippi
Methods:
Primary: ???; Secondary: Clustering?


 


Check out Mississippi's 3-digit state highways on a map -- this is weird. The northwestern part of the state has all the lower 3xx routes. The northeastern part has the higher 3xx's, the central part has the 4xx's, the southwest has all 5xx's and the extreme southeast has the 6xx's. A few minutes of study will reveal the state is pretty systematic within the 4xx and 5xx series as well. The 1xx and 2xx highways are "old roads", mainly the 1xx series. Generally, 1xx roads follow the routing of an old US route if it has been bypassed or rerouted. The only 200 series road I know of is Hwy. 245 which is Alt US 45's old road between Egypt and Shannon, MS. They started using the 100 series about three-four years ago. The two-digit roads are for the most part major highways. (Hwy 12, 15, 25, etc.) The three digit roads are usually crooked (in the hills) and go to nowhere and back.
 

Sources:

Calls for Information

If you have information on how a state numbers its highways, don't hesitate to e-mail me.

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